Centrifugal or turbine pump.



L. R. ALBERG B. D. ALBERGER, s. u. ROSS & A. H. A'LBERGER, amcn'rons.

OENTRIFUGAL OR TURBINE PUMP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24. 1905.

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tie it lrnovvn that l, hours it. lttaenuern, a citiaen oil the United States of America, and a resident ot Greenwich, county ollFairheld, tltate ot Gonnecticut, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Centritngal or 'lurhine'lt umps, or vvhich the :lollovvpump oi? this character heing particularly usetul and desirahle tor the purpose ol teed ing steam hoilers, tor fire pumps, elevators, the Water supply ol cities, and similar and other purposes.

At turther object oi the invention is to enahle this result to he accomplished automati cally in such a manner that a slight increase in the discharge pressure due to alessened demand tor liquid Will automatically reduce the quantity delivered and the povver re" quired, or vice versa.

The invention may he said to consist essen tially in means tor returning a portion oi the liquid l rom the delivery point oil a pump, or o one stage to the entrance oi the same pump or stage, or to the entrance to another stage, so that the head or pressure against each individual remaining stage Will he increased ahove vvhat it vvas hetore and the discharge lessened Without an increase oil the final discharge head or pressure. @r, in other vvords, the invention consists essentially all means tor modi'lying or controlling the capahility or a pump,or ct one stage oi pump,to obtain a variahle amount oi discharge in the accompanying drawings illustratmy invention l igure l is a vievv in elevation ot a multistage pump driven hy direct connection vvith an electric motor or steam turhine, and shovvs in section one term oi" valve or governor tor automatically ttpeetttcation ot' hettera ltatent.

m intains tutu rate toot. tie-rial no. teaser.

retreated not, as, rail,

regulating the flow and returning a portion or the liquid from the discharge point oi the last stage to the discharge oi the neat stage "Which is the same as the entrance to the last stage. l ig. 2 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section showing the re turn passage located hetvveen the discharge point of the neat to the last stage (desig nated 2) which is the-entrance to thelast stage, and the discharge point or the first stage (designated l) and Which is the same as the entrance to the stage designated 3.

Various methods have heretofore heen employed in an etlort to secure a variahle and dii'l'erential discharge vvitha constant speed 0t rotation. Urdinarily, these methods have consisted of throttling either the. delivery or the suction, or hoth, and by thus increasing the total head ohtaining a reduced tlovv ol liquid. ldut these methods are ohjectionahle hecause in the case oi? the throttling ot the delivery or discharge of the pump, unless the pump is operating exactly under the head for which it is suited, the demand tor povver will at first he increased heztore it is reduced; and in the case or the throttling ot the suction there is danger oit' lorming vapor or inducing a leakage oi" air under the vacuum produced; and obviously, either of these actions incidental to thest two methods oil ohtaining a variable discharge must intertere greatly With the functions ol the pump, i

lln the annealed drawing, A denotes a steam turhine, or it may he an electric motor, or some other means for driving the pump, vvhat is here illustrated being presented simply hy vvay of example and for the pun ose of explanation. The pump illustrated 1s a multistage pump and has the stages 1, 2, 3 and l. Thestage numhered t is the first stage; that numbered 3 is the second stage; that numhered 2 isthe third stage; that numbered 1 is the last stage; or, in other "Words, the stage Which is nearest the suction is considered as the first stage, While that nearest the discharge is treated as the last stage.

.5 denotes the suction stage t, and t3 designates e delivery or dis charge pipe issuing from the stage i. it pipe It extends :lrom the discharge passage oil the stage i to the discharge passage ot pipe entering the t 1 of the water or other liquid from the delivery of one sta to the entrance of the same stage, and in this way the head or pressure against each individual remaining stage is increased above what it was before and the discharge is lessened without an increase of the final discharge head or pressure. Another way of stating the same thing would be to say that the delivery. from the pump is expected to be, once the operation is fully established, against a constant pressure, the regulating valve serving to maintain the ressure constant, and variations in the utyof the pump with reference to its capacity being only in the quan-- tity of water delivered. The advantages secured by this arrangement are very evi dent and of great importance. The return passage 7 is provided with a valve device, either a hand valve or an automatic valve. One form of the latter is illustrated in the drawing and will be presently described. When the return passage is closed the full amount of liquid which the discharge 6 is capable of delivering will be finally discharged; and none at all will be discharged when the return pipe is fully opened so as to allow the return flow to take place to the entire capacity of pipe 7, it being remembered that at this time the final discharge head will neither be increased nor decreased. The effect of having the return passage wide open is to cut out the last impeller of the series leaving the remaining impeller units to perform the same duty as they performed when said last impeller was in service, the pump delivering as a whole a correspondingly diminished amount of water. Of course, when the return passage is closed only partially, that isto say, only what will be less than suflicient tocut out the whole duty of the last im eller, it is evident that the impeller will st' 1 doa part of its work. By my improved arrangement the final head or pressure is not increased, and there is no vacuum produced in the suction over that normally existent and due to the lift or friction in the supply pipe. When the discharge is reduced in quantity the power con-- sum'ed in the operation of the pump is also reduced and the pump may therefore be considered a practical and economical device for a number of purposes. Inasmuch as the return passage 7 may be provided with a hand valve, an automatic valve, or some other suitable controlling device, it is evident that the regulation of the flow and pressure maybe controlled manually or by the pressure in the discharge pipe. In order to more fully illustrate this last idea, I have represented the return pipe 7 as provided with a valve chamber 8, wherein is a valve 9. Upon the valve chamber 8 is a diaphragm chamber 10 containing a diaphragm 11, which divides the chamber into two compartments, the lower of which, as 12, connects with the discharge 6 through a pipe 13. On the opposite side of said diaphragm is a stem 14, associated with levers 15 against which bear springs 16. When the pressure on the under side of the diaphragm 11 in the compartment 12, through pipe 13, in creases sufiicientlyto lift the stem 14 and overcome the pressure of the springs 16, the valve will be free to 0 en under the pressure in the return pipe 7, t e result of which will be that liquid will flow from the delivery of stage 1 to the discharge of stage 2 and likewise to the entrance of stage 1. Thus the pressure-operated valve 9 is connected with the delivery pipe 6 so that as. the pressure in the latter mereases, due-to a lessened demand for water, the valve 9 will be opened to a "greater or less extent, andjn consequence of the return flow thus permitted, the discharge flow through pipe 6 will be reduced. On the other hand, it will be evident that as the pressure in the pipe 6 de creases the valve 9 will close again. Thus we have an automatic regulation of the return flow, and consequently of the discharge so that avariable quantity of water is discharged at various times, and as a portion of the liquid is taken from the delivery of stage 1 and transferred to the entrance of man or other employee, or as is often the case in large installations of boilers where there is a large number of boilers, each having a feed pipe and valve, the fireman may manipulate the valve on the feed pipe at the boiler, and ash ht rise or fall of pressure in the main fee ipe or delivery of the pump will act accordingly upon the automatic' valve in the return pipe and perfectly control the discharge of water from the pump as I have already hereinabove fully explained.

In fire service the improved device constituting my present invention will serve to relieve strain upon the hose or piping in case there should be a sudden stoppage of opening; and on elevator work, where there is an intermittent demand for water, my improvement will avoid the constant stopping and startin of the pump to meet the demand. With e ectrically-driven pumps this starting and stopping at frequent intervals calls for a large excess flow of electric current at the mor ars times of starting up, and results not only in an extremely irregular and expensive demand for current, but involves a considerable wear and tear on the apparatus.

I have stated that the pipe for the return flow of water or other liquid may connect the delivery of'one stage with the entrancesecond stage of a four-stage pump, with the entrance of the fourth stage, or which is the same thing, with the delivery of the third stage. delivery of the first stage may connect by a suitable pipewith the entrance to the third stage, and in both these cases the return and transfer of pressure will still accomplish the object of my invention, which is primarily to throw out of commission or render inactive, either partially or entirely, any one stage or any number of stages less than all of the stages-of the pump. And further, when, instead of a series of stages, there are what would more properly be called several pumps in series, running at a constant speed, the re urn passage or pipe may connect the delivery of one pump with its suction, or the delivery of one pump with the suction or inlet of another pump, and accomplish the same result as l[ have herein stated can be accomplished by connecting the delivery of one stage of a pump with the entrance to the same stage.

Having thus described my invention, what ll claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a multistage centrifugal or turbine ump, of a return passage between the delivery of one stage and the delivery of another stage.

2. The combination with a multistage centrifugal or turbine pump, of a return To give another example, the

passage between the entrance to one stage and the entrance to another stage.

3. The combmation with a multistage centrifugal or turbine pump, of a return passage from the delivery of a stage to the delivery of another stage, said passage having means to regulate the transfer of pressure.

a. The combination with a multistage centrifugal or turbine pump, whose stages are arranged in series, of a return passage for connecting the delivery of one member with the delivery of another member, and means whereby the transfer of pressure through said. passage is automatically controlled.

5. The combination with a multistage centrifugal or turbine pump, of means connecting the delivery of one of the stages with the delivery of another of the stages, said means being provided with an automatic valve controlled by the pressure in the final discharge.

6. The combination with a multi-stage turbine pump, of a return passage between the delivery of one stage and the delivery of another stage.

7. The combination with a multi-stage turbine pump, of a return passage from the delivery of a stage to the delivery of another stage, said passage having means to regulate the transfer of pressure.

8. The combination with a multi-stage turbine ump, whose stages are arranged in series, of a return passage for connecting the delivery of one member with the delivery of another member, and means whereby the transfer of pressure through said passage is automatically controlled.

9. The combination with a multi-stage turbine pump, of means connecting the delivery of one of the stages with the delivery of another of the stages, said means being provided with an automatic valve controlled by the pressure in the final discharge.

Signed at New York city this 20th day of June 1905.

lbtllllld ft. ALlBEltGlElt. Witnesses:

dorm H. Haznrron, T. T'TJEIBIERG. 

